STM Investigation of Multicomponent Supramolecular Nanostructures Built by Aromatic Acid Derivatives and Coronene

This work studied the interfacial coassembly behaviors of the aromatic acid 5′,5⁗-([2,2′-bithiophene]-5,5′-diyl)bis([1,1′:3′,1″-terphenyl]-4,4″-dicarboxylic acid) (H 4 BDETP) with the introduced tetracarboxylic acid derivative (3′,5′-bis(6-carboxynaphthalen-2-yl)-[1,1′-biphenyl]-3,5-dicarboxylic acid (BCBDA) or 5′,5⁗-(ethyne-1,2-diyl)bis([1,1′:3′,1″-terphenyl]-4,4″-dicarboxylic acid) (EBTD)) and coronene (COR). Intermolecular interactions and the formation mechanisms of the coassembly structures were investigated via scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and density functional theory (DFT). H 4 BDETP dimers were retained and formed hydrogen bonds with BCBDA or EBTD molecules, leading to the structural transformation of H 4 BDETP into a nanoporous structure. When COR molecules were introduced into the H 4 BDETP/BCBDA or H 4 BDETP/EBTD binary system, COR molecules were adsorbed into suitable nanopores, and three-component host–guest structures were constructed on HOPG.